New Aussie dirty tricks

England's rugby heroes were kept awake by drumbeating Australian fans last night in a desperate bid by the Wallabies to put them off their stride.

But coach Clive Woodward said losing sleep would not lose England the World Cup.

Aussie fans gathered outside the team's hotel in Sydney to bang drums and chant songs in a bid to keep captain Jonny Wilkinson and his team-mates awake.

On the eve of the biggest match in English rugby history, Woodward had to admit that "if somebody wants to get you, they are going to get you".

The England coach admitted there had been noise at the hotel last night including chants of "boring, boring". He said: "I am sure there will be some goodnatured banter tonight and I hope the locals give us a fair chance and a peaceful night. However, I don't think we are going to lose a cup final because somebody hasn't had a full night's sleep."

The call to harrass England has come from Sydney newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, which claimed it was a patriot's duty to turn up at the hotel tonight armed with "bugles and drums at the ready".

The Australian Rugby Union has persuaded three national radio networks to play Waltzing Matilda in unison at exactly 5pm local time, three hours before kickoff of the final.

Today the Aussies turned to reverse psychology, with the team choosing to ignore the awesome kicking of Jonny Wilkinson completely. Headlines in The Australian said 'Jonny Who?' after coach Eddie Jones said: "We've probably spoken about him less than any other player."

An email joke rushed around Australian computers, claiming that the English team had been targeted by terrorists. The message said that Clive Woodward had been forced to abandon a practice and call in police after a mysterious white powder was found at the end of the pitch. The police operation was scaled down after the powder turned out to be the try line.